Fiction and Non-Fiction Books by Mark Spivak

The Iconic Spirits Blog

National Daiquiri Day is July 19, one week from tomorrow. I usually remember the date because it happens to be my wife’s birthday (or perhaps I remember her birthday because…).

Like many of the classics, the origins of the daiquiri are mysterious. We do know that Daiquiri is the name of a beach located near the Bacardi home town of Santiago de Cuba. The most-repeated story is that the cocktail was invented by Jennings Cox, an American mining engineer working in Cuba during the Spanish-American War of 1898. However, it’s curious to note that the daiquiri also bears a close resemblance to a drink served to sailors in the British Imperial Navy from the mid-19th century onward, which consisted of rum, water, sugar, and lemon or lime juice (a friend of Jennings Cox, who was present when the drink was created, confirms that this was the origin of the daiquiri). (more…)